Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Seriously God, You want me to "rest?"

What They Say: To rest does not mean to cease all activity.Bestselling author Dan Allender presents an insightful and fascinating look at the origins and purpose of Sabbath. Serving as volume three in The Ancient Practices series, Sabbath examines the key issues of this oft-misunderstood day of the week.This "day of delight" as instituted by God has become a dirge for millions of believers. For many, it is simply a break from the busyness of the work week. So, what keeps us from properly understanding, sanctifying, and celebrating this important day? Allender looks at not only the history of this discipline, going all the way back to ancient Israel, but also at the modern manifestations and misunderstandings of its practice.Allender bases his premise on the Hebrew word for rest, Menuha, which is best translated as "joyous repose, tranquility, or delight." It is through this lens that he resurrects this lost definition of what it really means to rest.A volume in the eight book classic series, The Ancient Practices, with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor.

My Take: In our lives, we often take for granted our days off. We rush, rush, rush all week long and then when we don't have to "work", we fill our weekends with birthday parties, kid's little league, shopping and housework. But one of the Ten Commandments tells us to, "Stop! Take a day off! Spend time with God and enjoy His presence and the presence of your family."

Seriously God, You want me to "rest?"

Yes, God wants us to spend a day doing nothing, but enjoying Him and our family. "Well, I go to church on Sundays....doesn't that count?" Reading this book I started to think about my church experience and ask myself am I really taking a sabbath on Sunday. The answer was no! As church secretary and nursery director, my Sundays are anything but relaxing. My husband and I have commented on the fact that so often going to church feels like another day at the office for me. People don't always realize that I'm there to worship too. I'm sure our pastors feel the same way.

So, what to do? My husband and I have set aside Saturdays as our Sabbath. It is a time to play. Enjoy one another, our child and God. We spend quality time together and have become so much closer. Honestly, this book was life changing for us. Read it!

I received this book FREE via Booksneeze for the purpose of this review, and no other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine.

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About Me

I'm weird, I know. You don't have to tell me; enough people have already told me. It is ok though. Love me or hate me. I am the person that God made me. I am significant because He says I am and it doesn't matter what people think. Sure wish I would have known that as a teenager...it would have saved me lots of heartache!
I have lots of off-topic thoughts, so from now on I am going to put those thoughts in italics to help left-brainers keep up with my train of thought!